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Monday, October 12, 2015

Save the Historic Angels Flight Railway!

There it sits, collecting dust, out of operation now for two years. One of the historic symbols of our city, the Angels Flight railway, has already been saved twice -- but now it needs our help to be resurrected for a third time.

According to angelsflight.org progress is being made to reopen the attraction. But the railway has incurred major expenses:

We still have major expenses, including nearly $50,000 in annual insurance premiums, that must be met so that we can reopen. Please DONATE.

We need to raise $10,000 for the month of September and another $10,000 every month after that!

The Board of Directors of the Angels Flight Railway Foundation is pleased to report that we are making significant progress with our regulators to get Angels Flight back in public service.

Sign the petition to get Angels Flight back online! Here's the background:

Los Angeles' beloved funicular railway, Historic-Cultural Monument #4, was out of commission for six hours on September 5, 2013, because of an incident that took place that day. The cause of the incident was investigated and addressed, and new safety equipment was tested in the presence of State and Federal officials in February of 2014.
But now, nearly two years following the 2013 incident, the public still is being prohibited from riding Angels Flight.
The operator of Angels Flight and numerous licensed professional engineers and the LAFD have concluded that safety issues have been addressed. The Railway is in safe working order, and has been since early 2014. However, because of the views of a now-retired NTSB investigator, the California Public Utilities Commission will not permit the vintage passenger cars to carry patrons until a track-adjacent evacuation walkway, which experts have written is unnecessary and even a foreseeable hazard, is installed alongside the track, the cables, and the electric third rail.
Angels Flight is one of the great historic attractions of our city, a palpable link between the lost Victorian neighborhood of Bunker Hill and the vibrant new Downtown below. It is heartbreaking to see the cars and track structure as they are today, dusty and tagged with graffiti.